julieannasbooks 's review for:

The Monarchs by Kass Morgan

2.0

---

⭐⭐.5

Thank you to Clarion Books and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

After reading The Ravens, I was looking forward to returning to the witchy sorority and the atmospheric setting that came with the first book. Unfortunately, The Monarchs didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the miscommunication happening in the first book, but after what the Kappas went through, I thought this would have been kept to a minimum. Instead, this book was a series of miscommunications, hiding secrets about things that should have been shared, and ultimately a lot of bad decisions. The most bizarre part of this to me is how Scarlett and Vivi decided not to tell their parents anything (or at least with any persistence), which is an understandable thing to do, but after so many instances of people hiding things and not telling the truth it was just getting old.

I also felt like the Kappas were less likable in The Monarchs than in The Ravens. The whole plot of them competing with the other sorority to reclaim their status felt superficial, and I found myself really not caring or rooting for them despite their situation. I also felt that this book could have been a great opportunity to develop the main characters further (especially Scarlett, who is struggling to find confidence in her new leadership role), but we don’t see as much of this aside from the ending.

All in all, I prefer The Ravens over The Monarchs. While this book did have some remnants of the previous book that I enjoyed (the setting mainly), I felt like there was so much more that could have been done in terms of plot and character development.

CW:

Spoiler

Death of a prominent character, self-harm, murder

You can find more of my reviews here: www.julieannasbooks.com